Page 18 of Ardently Yours

“Hello, Officer Wickham.” Mama didn’t smile at him or offer a genuine greeting.

He swallows hard. “Ma’am, thank you for allowing me to have dinner with your family. And please, you all can call me George. I’m only wearing the uniform tonight because I didn’t have time to change after work, but I’m off duty.”

“George,” Papa says slowly, picking up a roll. Just as he is about to put it into his mouth, Mama takes the roll from him and places it on the plate in front of him.

“Yes, George. We’d love to have you stay, but unfortunately we weren’t prepared for another guest tonight. I’m afraid we won’t have enough food for you. And we don’t even have enough seats for everyone.”

“Sure we do,” I say, matching Mama’s fake-nice tone. “George is staying for dinner tonight since he’s already here. You wouldn’t want to be rude to my date, now, would you?”

“Date?” Mama asks, sitting back in her chair, astounded. “Since when are you dating George Wickham?”

“Since now,” I say, smiling as I enjoy this moment to confuse and irritate her. “So, you can stop sending me dating app links while I’m at work. I’m doing pretty good on my own, finding a date and all.”

George looks from her to me, wearing an expression that says he’s not sure whether he should burst out laughing or add something to the conversation. He doesn’t have time to say anything because my sisters and their mates walk in. They all stare as they take their seats.

“I didn’t know we were having a guest over,” Janet says, looking over at George and then at me.

She sits next to me, with Lydia, Mary, and Kitty all on my side of the table, while her husband, Charlie, sits with the guys across from us. Charlie and Papa share a knowing look. Janet looks at me quizzically.

Mary and Kitty greet George with a little too much enthusiasm. Lydia looks as if she’s settling in to watch her favorite soap opera.

“We are,” Mama says through gritted teeth. “Just not the one sitting at the table with us now.”

“Should I go?” George asks me politely.

I don’t want him to go. I need him here to make my plan, or lack of a plan, work. I need him to chase Billie away and stop Mama from interfering in my dating life.

Also, younger me would be so proud that I finally got the guy of my teenage dreams. So, why does this feel so wrong? I can’t dwell on that thought. I need this to work.

A still, small voice tugs at me, and a thought pops into my mind, standing out against my own issues: You don’t need fake love. I love you. You are enough. I am enough for you.

“No,” I say, shaking my head slightly, to answer George and the thought that is trying to distract me from my plan. Then, louder for everyone else to hear, I say, “George stays. He’s my guest tonight.”

The doorbell rings. No one moves.

Mama stands. She says, “That will be the guest we expected tonight.”

“We were expecting a guest?” Papa asks, and I know then that she didn’t tell him about Billie.

“Yeah, Mama, who else is coming?” Mary asks, looking around the table. “Everyone is here.”

“Unless Nic and Jane are coming over?” Kitty asks, looking at me expectantly. She thinks I probably invited my friends over for dinner since I have done that from time to time.

“Nope,” I say, shaking my head at my sister. “They aren’t coming tonight.” The doorbell rings again.

Lydia slips away from the table to look out the dining room window facing the front yard. She exclaims, “I know who it is!”

I shoot her a look when she locks eyes with me. Mouth agape, she snaps it shut when I glare at her. She reluctantly goes back to her seat and says nothing else, which is hard for her since she loves to talk.

Then, she leans over and whispers something to Mary. Mary gasps and then leans over to whisper to Kitty, who also gasps and leans over to Janet. Janet looks over at me as if she has just been slapped in the face.

“No,” she says, daring me to say she’s wrong in assuming who’s at the door. “Please tell me you are not going back down that road again, Lizzie. He put you through so much.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” I ask. “It’s not like I invited him over. That is something Mama did. Not me. I would never.”

“Who are we talking about here?” asks Kitty’s boyfriend.

“Yeah, I’m kind of lost,” says Mary’s boyfriend.